IndianOil to start production of biomass-based ethanol

Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) would initiate production of second generation ethanol by utilising crop residues and other biomass as feedstock at village Baoli in Panipat district of Haryana.

The capacity of proposed plant would be 100 kilo litre of ethanol per day, this was informed during a meeting of Haryana Enterprise Promotion Board (HEPB), which was held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, an official release said.

According to the release, it was informed that IndianOil has proposed to procure over two lakh tonne of rice straw, that is total production of four districts of Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat and Kurukshetra.

“This will help in curbing the pollution emission to a significant extent, by utilising the straw as raw material, which currently is being burnt by the farmers resulting in pollution menace every year, especially during winter season,” the release said.

It was further informed that this project would also help reduce the effort farmers have to undertake for the burning process as IOCL would be setting up the extensive infrastructure for speedy collection of these straws so that farmers do no miss on crop cycle.

Moreover, it would also add on to the farmers' income as they would be offered a reasonable price for the straw which the oil PSU would procure. This project has a considerable potential to generate direct and indirect employment, it said.

HEPB, meanwhile, today gave approval to offer Gram Panchayat land of village Baoli in Panipat to the company at prevailing market rate.